Western Union Company Stock Upgraded (WU)

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its good cash flow from operations, expanding profit margins and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat weak growth in earnings per share.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• Net operating cash flow has increased to $325.70 million or 11.50% when compared to the same quarter last year. The firm also exceeded the industry average cash flow growth rate of -30.39%.
• 47.20% is the gross profit margin for WESTERN UNION CO which we consider to be strong. Regardless of WU's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 16.69% trails the industry average.
• Regardless of the drop in revenue, the company managed to outperform against the industry average of 9.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 0.5%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• Return on equity has greatly decreased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of major weakness within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the IT Services industry and the overall market, WESTERN UNION CO's return on equity significantly exceeds that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• The share price of WESTERN UNION CO has not done very well: it is down 22.10% and has underperformed the S&P 500, in part reflecting the company's sharply declining earnings per share when compared to the year-earlier quarter. Looking ahead, although the push and pull of the overall market trend could certainly make a critical difference, we do not see any strong reason stemming from the company's fundamentals that would cause a continuation of last year's decline. In fact, the stock is now selling for less than others in its industry in relation to its current earnings.

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The Western Union Company provides money movement and payment services worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Consumer-to-Consumer and Global Business Payments. The company has a P/E ratio of 8.2, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Western Union has a market cap of $8.5 billion and is part of the services sector and diversified services industry. Shares are up 4.7% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

You can view the full Western Union Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

-- Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

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